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Questions Linger After Afghanistan CIA Bombing/Time Warner Cable and Fox Still Talking/Arctic Air Headed for Midwest/Russia Raises Price of Vodka to Combat Alcoholism

Aired January 01, 2010 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It is go time, time to pick it up a couple of notches. So we are pushing forward now with the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM with Richard Lui.

RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: Happy new year, my friend, Tony Harris.

HARRIS: And to you, sir.

LUI: We move forward right here on CNN. Two thousand six hundred killings in three hundred and sixty-five days. Why does Juarez, Mexico, have a murder rate that is triple that of Baghdad? That answer is drugs. Will 2010 bring a solution?

And then Kaduna (ph), Nigeria, hometown of a terror suspect's starting point as a journey to radical Islam. You know the story. This hour, the back story.

And a new year means a new start for a dad and two sons who have been apart since 1998. A kidnapping took the kids away. Google brings them together.

All right, we begin this hour with anger, resolve, and many lingering questions after this week's devastating attack on a CIA post in remote eastern Afghanistan. This happened just two days ago, a suicide bomber blowing up inside forward operating base Chapman in Khost province, near the Pakistani border. We found out yesterday seven CIA officers were killed, six others hurt in the agency's biggest known loss since Beirut back in 1983. A U.S. intelligence official tells CNN, and I quote here, "This attack will be avenged." "The New York Times," an Associated Press report that the bomber may have been invited onto the base as a potential informant. That has not yet been confirmed.

Now, let's get more on what we do know from CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence. He joins us live right now. Chris, what do you have?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's been some pretty strong reaction, Richard, from the U.S. intelligence community. In fact, one U.S. intelligence official you just alluded to there, he told us, quote, "This attack will be avenged through successful, aggressive counterterrorism operations," the intelligence community vowing to, you know, retaliate, I guess is one way of saying it, for this attack that killed so many of their colleagues. Now, the big question is obviously, How did this bomber get on the base? Well, the Taliban is claiming that it got an Afghan army soldier to put on a suicide vest, and he blew himself up on that base. It's a base with barricades, barbed wires, even a watchtower. The Afghan national army, the defense forces, are saying none of their people were involved in this. So it's definitely something where they're investigating, trying to figure out if this really was a soldier, if a uniform was stolen, or if this person had been invited on the base.

But even the allegation that this could be, you know, someone involved with the Afghan security team, you know, it raises some questions and could impact the level of trust between the forces.

I spoke with president Bush's former homeland security adviser, Fran Townsend, and she said that may have been the Taliban's goal in this attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANCES FRAGOS TOWNSEND, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Counterintelligence activity means U.S. government officials and military officials doing increased scrutiny of their Afghan army partners, and that will undermine the sense of common mission, common team, and their ability to move forward. And so I actually think -- I can see why the Taliban would do it, but it will have a devastating impact on the partnership, I think.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: Yes, bottom line on this, Richard, is this, that somehow a man got onto an American base with an explosive vest, and he wasn't searched.

LUI: You know, Chris, the statement you were bringing up in your report, the official using the word "avenge" -- we don't commonly see that in a statement coming from a government agency or from an official. Pretty strongly worded. What do you think that means?

LAWRENCE: No, well, I think you made a great point in the beginning, when you said this is the deadliest attack on CIA forces, you know, in the better part of 26 years. So this is definitely hitting the intelligence community very hard.

It's not only a personal loss for the officers' families, but the U.S. loses their expertise in that part of Afghanistan. The flag is flying at half-staff right now at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and President Obama sent a letter to the entire agency, in which he said, quote, "Your triumphs and even your names may be unknown to your fellow Americans, but your service is deeply appreciated."

You know, we usually think of Afghanistan as a military operation, but these are the people who serve in the shadows, so to speak. They don't get medals. They can't really talk about their service when they get home. But there is a growing CIA presence in that country.

LUI: In the shadows -- a poignant point there from Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon live, in the aftermath of Wednesday's attack there in Afghanistan. Thank you so much.

You know, let's get some insights now, moving from Chris Lawrence, to what the role of the battlefield spy has, what they do, how they do it, how they try to prevent what happened in Khost, for instance. Well, Ken Robinson is a former special ops and military officer and now a media consultant in Los Angeles. He knows the terrain.

Ken, just to give folks a little bit of your back ground, looking at your resume here, 30 years of government service with U.S. special operations, CIA and NSA. You also have served in Afghanistan itself. And you were named to the Intelligence Hall of Fame. These "shadows" that Chris Lawrence was alluding to, you certainly understand them. What is the process that was undergoing -- that they were undertaking there in Afghanistan when they brought in the suspect?

KEN ROBINSON, FMR. MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: What they're searching for on the border is clarity. The United States and the Afghan government are facing multiple adversaries. There are multiple enemies. There are criminals. There are members of the Taliban. There are members of al Qaeda. And then there are tribal Pashtun groups that are jockeying for power, that have been doing so since the Duran line was drawn between Pakistan and Afghanistan arbitrarily, separating tribes.

And to be able to figure out who your adversary is, who's attacking you, requires you to engage the indigenous populations. It requires you to spot, assess, recruit and train spies and launch them into the population so that you can get accurate, eyes-on information to be able to target because from that location, they have been targeting successfully and killing members of the Haqqani group, al Qaeda, and senior Taliban leaders.

LUI: All right, so some of the reports here, Ken, is that the suspect was brought in as a potential informant, that they were going through the process of determining whether he could become one. What do they do to understand whether that is possible and whether it's safe to do so?

ROBINSON: Well, someone spotted that individual and approached him, in the generic sense, to determine that he potentially had intelligence value. And from that spotting, someone made an assessment that said it was worth bringing him onto a base for an interview or a recruitment. And again, I'm speaking in the generic term.

LUI: Right.

ROBINSON: Now, the process by which you vet that person and secure that person and bring them through security, that's the big question as to what happened in this incident. In normal incidences, they are checked from top to bottom, head to toe. And we don't know where the breakdown was in this specific case.

But unfortunately, these members of the Central Intelligence Agency have to swim amongst the most surly people within the region. And there are no cities out there. There's no outside place to meet. This terrain out there is very mountainous. It's very Spartan. Anyone on the outside is going to be noticed. So the only safe place to bring somebody is inside one of those compounds.

LUI: Right. So Ken, what you're describing is a very nebulous situation, a very -- a lot of gray spaces. What can be done to prevent such an attack from happening again such as this?

ROBINSON: Well, these bases are supposed to have multiple rings of security. There's not supposed to be one simple gate that you walk through and then you're good to go. There should be multiple rings of security and multiple locations, and a separation between those who are working in the clandestine service and those who are being brought on to be interviewed.

There shouldn't be a simple maneuver to be able to wander over to a gymnasium. There should always be someone supervising and walking with anyone that's been brought onto the base.

These are the questions that'll be answered in the next 24 to 48 hours as to what specifically broke down or whether this person had already been vetted and was already trusted and was already a member of the Afghan national army. It's alleged. It's not certain yet whether he was wearing a uniform or whether he actually was and had some form of credential and maybe had been on the base before.

We have to let them do the reports and find out. But clearly, there's a serious breach in terms of there should be separations and integral concentric rings of security.

LUI: Those integral circles of security that you're alluding to there -- we are very unfamiliar with that, being on the outside. You were once on the inside. So why meet at the location of the base? Why not somewhere else, where you have fewer people at risk?

ROBINSON: Well, the problem is, is there's a thousand eyes on those two bases. There's a camp there called Salerno (ph), Forward Operating Base Salerno. It's about 25 miles from the Pakistani border, and it is at ground zero near Khost where the Haqqani network and the Taliban and al Qaeda are believed to be across the border in the Northwest Frontier province. Everywhere you look, there's a spy observing everything that happens.

And so in order to have a private meeting, you have to veil someone and bring them into your compound because there's no safe place outside of a compound to be able to talk to someone and convince them -- to recruit them to be able to go across the border. These people's loyalty is to their tribe, to their family, to their tribe. It is not to a government.

And so they have to find and approach a motivation of either money, ideology, some type of love of family, of comrades, some way to convince this person that their role in helping the Americans is better for their tribe. And that's a very difficult process. It's a long conversation.

LUI: Ken, a long conversation -- let's try to get that into a small capsule. I want to build on what you just said, which is loyalty -- you brought up that word. You also brought up the word "trust." It has been said in some of the reports in "The New York Times" and the Associated Press that this is a common process, of developing trust, sort of quid pro quo. If you're going to put your personal life at risk by becoming an informant for the United States, we will bring you into our back door, shall we say, onto our base. So we are extending (ph), according to the government's perspective perhaps, that we trust you. Is that true?

ROBINSON: It is true because you have to move with these people, and you -- and this is a -- this is not a normal job. This is not people who are flipping hamburgers at Wendy's. This is someone trying to convince someone to betray a tribal interest or an interest of a group, and they know that that betrayal could cost them the death of their entire family. There are very, very, very brave Afghanis who have supported and helped the United States government and enabled them to find the people who are killing Americans. This process is very technical.

LUI: Very technical. And Ken, I want to finish this discussion with a personal note, perhaps. In our discussions before we went on air, you were telling us, our producers, that you may know the head of that base. How closely -- and you're in Los Angeles. How closely knit is the group that we're talking about? And do you know this person?

ROBINSON: Well, I haven't seen the name yet, and I've been trying to find the name of the individual. Remember, these are people in the clandestine service, so their names are classified. If you remember Valerie Plame...

LUI: Right.

ROBINSON: ... you just don't say the names of a clandestine operative. However, there are very few female operatives who are out there at the senior level. And they are remarkable, wonderful women, with great leadership and they're intensely respected by everyone in what is typically a boys' club. It'll be a tragic loss if one of them has been taken out, which is allegedly reported right now.

LUI: Allegedly reported.

ROBINSON: All of the people -- it's tragically for the loss of all of them because this is a big setback. The last time it happened was Beirut. We lost the chief of station and we lost eight people. And we spent 25 years hunting down the man who did it. And we found him last year, and he's dead. We spent 25 years looking for him. The United States will avenge this.

LUI: Ken Robinson, thank you so much. Again, 30-plus years with the NSA, CIA and other operations for the government, as well as being nominated and in the Intelligence Hall of Fame. Thank you so much for spending your time today to give us some background in terms of what happened Wednesday in Afghanistan. We appreciate your time.

ROBINSON: Thank you.

LUI: Well, we hope you did not throw out those rabbit ears. Do you remember those things? You might need them, in the end, to watch some of your favorite shows or games. If two sides can't talk it out, one of them might black it out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: We're keeping an eye on the dispute between Fox and Time Warner Cable. So what if these two sides can't work out their business issues? What then happens next? Well, millions of you could miss things like the last week of the NFL regular season, some bowl games, and "The Simpsons."

CNN's Susan (INAUDIBLE) -- or rather, if I could speak here -- CNN's Susan Candiotti is following the negotiations. And Susan, I was so upset about losing all those shows, I couldn't even talk there for a second because everybody watches these things. These are icons, certainly, of what we -- we go to the TV when we go home. And have we heard any talks from inside the negotiations or from any of the other officials watching these issues right now?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, since shortly after midnight, we've heard virtually nothing other than a very brief statement from Time Warner Cable and from Fox saying, We're still talking.

Other than that, absolutely nothing, with the exception of Senator John Kerry, who's speaking in his role as the chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications Technology and the Internet. He says he is pleased that Time Warner Cable and Fox are still talking. And then he added, quote, "I encourage a long-term mutually agreeable solution that does not strip consumers of programming unnecessarily and believe that good-faith negotiations should result in an agreement."

There is an expectation, Richard, that there will be an agreement, but when? We don't know.

LUI: You, know because we take it for granted that we go home, we turn on the cable box and the channels are there. That may not happen. The cable guy might be get called a lot of different times. What happens to consumers if this agreement does not happen then? Is it the situation I just described?

CANDIOTTI: Yes, it's scary, isn't it? But actually, that's why we were watching at midnight. But your screen could theoretically go blank on those channels that used to carry Fox programming on Time Warner Cable. The popular programs that you were mentioning, such as "The Simpsons," such as "American Idol" or "House" and all of those sports programs, pro football and cable sports that some Fox cable channels also carry. Now, the thing is, they could disappear, but if there is an agreement, consumers could be paying more because Fox wants Time Warner cable to pay more money for the right to carry its programs. And in fact, they're demanding $1 per subscriber, and there are 13 million subscribers. And if, for example, this goes through, well, maybe other networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS, could -- the broadcast nets could start asking the cable systems to start charging for more money to carry its local channels, as well.

So a lot of ramifications. You might have to, for example, turn elsewhere and hook up to satellite TV if you still want those programs, if everything collapses here. We don't know what's going to happen.

LUI: You know, Susan, since the beginning of the year -- and I'm thinking it's a lose/lose situation for a lot of folks, either don't get the channels or the prices go up. And now, something was supposed to happen at midnight. What did happen at midnight?

CANDIOTTI: Well, we were watching. We were watching when the ball was going down on Times Square...

LUI: Yes. Yes.

CANDIOTTI: ... what was going to happen on the local Fox station here in New York, for example, on Time Warner Cable system, and nothing happened. But we were rolling just to see whether the screen, in fact, would go blank.

But that's when we, you know, reached out to both parties to see what was going on and that's when we got the word that they evidently were still talking. And I guess they still are. We've reached out but have heard virtually nothing other than, The talks are continuing. Whether we will get some other clarification as the day goes on -- well, we sure hope so. But evidently, they are behind closed doors, and I guess they're still talking about what may happen, what will happen, whether they will reach an agreement.

LUI: And an important point you bring up in your report here, Susan, it can affect everybody. Just because we're talking about Fox and Time Warner Cable, it can bleed into all of the other networks as they try to vie for more money, and that can mean more money to us. And we don't like that right now, Susan.

CANDIOTTI: It could, Richard. But I just want to say, you know, we're obviously all keeping our fingers crossed...

LUI: Yes!

CANDIOTTI: ... because a lot of people want to watch the Sugar Bowl tonight.

LUI: Oh, yes.

CANDIOTTI: Hello? University of Cincinnati and the University of Florida go at it. We all want to see that game. LUI: Oh, you got that right. We'll be very -- and it'll be on, I hope. I'm going to hope for that to happen. Susan Candiotti, thank you so much for that story for us.

CANDIOTTI: You're welcome.

LUI: And just a quick footnote, basically, on what Susan was telling us. Time Warner Cable is not part of CNN's parent company, which is Time Warner. Time Warner cable was spun off last year.

Top stories right now -- 2010 begins on a bloody note in Pakistan, a suicide car bombing at a volleyball match killed at least 60 people and wounded dozens more. Now, this attack in a neighborhood in Pakistan -- is in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier.

The man who led the United States war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan said Iraq's upcoming elections are enormous importance to the country's future. General David Petraeus warns of violence leading up to the vote in early March. Petraeus is in Baghdad today. He says recent bombings show that militants are trying to undermine the country's confidence in its government.

So the head of Delta Airlines blasting government security measures after the botched terror attacks on Christmas Day. And he's saying airlines have done everything the government has asked them to do since 9/11 to tighten security. And he says that should have brought a better result in what happened a week ago over Detroit.

And how do you try to get a nation, a very large one at that, that loves its vodka to sober up? Hit the people where it hurts.

And a lot of folks probably hurting today after slamming into the new year, so here's something to ponder on as you recover. What year is this anyway, twenty-ten or two thousand and ten? Our first CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll of the year for the decade found more people going with more syllables. Seven out of ten of you say two thousand and ten is the way to say it, and for the other 29 percent of you, you say that it's definitely twenty-ten.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: It's a cold start to the new year. Karen Maginnis joins us now from our CNN Weather Center. And you were telling me earlier about Arctic weather.

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

LUI: We've got to be concerned about that.

MAGINNIS: Yes. And my cameraman here says, Oh, I was going to go to Miami. It's not going to be as warm as I thought. And I said, Consider yourself lucky. You could be in Fargo, where the outside air temperature is minus-12. That's not even the windchill factor.

But look at these double-digit below-zero readings. Those are the actual outside air temperatures -- Chicago, 13. Tomorrow, Chicago, if you make it to 13 degrees, you will be lucky. Windchill factor in Fargo is 34 degrees below zero. Minneapolis is minus-9. Des Moines is minus-10 windchill factor. Dubuque tomorrow is going to be minus-3 or 3 degrees for a high temperature.

Normally, this time of year, they would be right around 30 degrees. So this is substantially cold Arctic air that's going to be kind of a prolonged spell across much of the Midwest, into the Great Lakes, all the way down towards the deep South.

Now, we've got a little bit of lake-effect snow still left over across especially the eastern Great Lakes. And for interior sections of New England, we could see near blizzard conditions.

And in Tampa, Richard -- I've got somebody who's really eyeballing that ball game there -- the rain came down pretty heavily, but now it's moved out a little bit. And happy new year.

LUI: Happy new year to you, too. It could be worse, my friend. It could be worse.

(LAUGHTER)

LUI: It's just cold. We don't have a lot of snow everywhere across the country, or rain, so we'll take what we've got for now.

MAGINNIS: Arctic air.

LUI: Brr!

(LAUGHTER)

LUI: All right, Karen Maginnis watching out for us...

MAGINNIS: All right.

LUI: ... thank you.

A brand-new year and some brand-new laws across the United States, and a lot of them designed to try to make you safer and healthier. For instance, if you text and drive at the same time, you're now breaking the law in Illinois, Oregon and New Hampshire, adding to some other states that already have that.

And if you light up in most bars or restaurants in North Carolina, you better think twice there. There's a new smoking ban that is now in effect in a state that's been the top tobacco grower for some years. Plus, if you're a teenager in Texas, (INAUDIBLE) example, and you're after that golden glow in the winter from a tanning booth, you have to have your parents' written permission before you bake. Some new laws.

Vodka, it's Russia's national drink. How else can you make it through the country's brutal winters, for instance? Well, today, a lot of grumbling from Moscow to Vladivostok. The government just upped the minimum price for a bottle of vodka in a move here to try to battle alcohol abuse in the country. CNN's Matthew Chance shows us how serious that battle actually is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You could call it the Russian disease. Alcoholism affects so many people here, the country's president has declared it a national disaster. And the figures, like the alcoholics, are staggering.

(on camera): Well, the Kremlin says that Russians, on average, drink about 18 liters of pure alcohol every year each. Now, to give you an idea of what that means, we've lined up all these bottles of vodka because vodka, remember, is only 40 percent proof. And it amounts to 45 liters of Russian vodka for every man, woman and child in this country. To say that Russia has a drinking problem is a gross understatement.

(voice-over): And the effects are pretty gross, too. More than 30,000 Russians die every year of alcohol poisoning, according to health officials, many after drinking illegal moonshine, even perfume or industrial spirits. The Kremlin says drunk drivers were responsible for almost 5,000 road accidents in the first half of this year alone, killing or injuring at least 8,000 people.

Add to that the alcohol factor in killers like heart disease, serious crime, and suicides, and it's no wonder Russia's young health- conscious president is declaring war on drink. But critics say his plans, which include tightening alcohol laws, are too vague to have much effect.

PRES. DMITRI MEDVEDEV, RUSSIA (through translator): The most important thing of all is to give people the desire and possibility of leading a normal, full, healthy and sober life. We all realize that this is possible only when people have normal living standards. You cannot defeat drunkenness in a poor country.

CHANCE: But in Russia, it's not just about living standards. Drinking is a cultural tradition, a rite of passage that starts early and can often end in alcoholism. Chilizza (ph), he asked us to call him, is a recovering alcoholic with a horrifying but typical story.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I first tried alcohol when I was just 3 years old. There were constantly people over at our house, singing songs, being happy. I would play around the table with my toy truck and pour a little leftover vodka from each glass into the back of this little truck. Then I'd run back to my room, where no one could see anything, and drink it. I just remember wanting to be part of the crowd, sitting at the table, raising my glass of vodka, to toast with everyone. It's something that I strive for my whole life.

CHANCE: Tackling that kind of deep-seated urge will be hard, but also crucial if Russia's battle with the bottle is to be won.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT LUI, CNN ANCHOR: The year is over. The violence is not. Juarez, Mexico, wraps up a bloody 2009. And then waits.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: Well, reports from both sides of the border say the DEA has warned Mexico of possible attacks by drug cartels. Sources are saying the intel was about unusual violence in the New Year against government buildings, banks, bridges, and other targets. The DEA would not confirm or deny any such warning to Mexico.

So, Mexican troops deployed to the border city of Juarez two years ago to try to make a dent in all the drug crime, that's what happened. The strategy is -- well, it's not going so well. In 2009, there were more than 2,600 deaths linked to drug traffickers. We're talking eight to 10 murders each day.

Well, last month, CNN's Michael Ware spent some time on the streets of Juarez, and he found out firsthand just how mean those streets really are.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL WARE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This footage is difficult to watch. These anguished cries impossible to forget. Relatives entering this building are seeking the bodies of their loved ones executed by a Mexican drug cartel.

You're witnessing the pain of the Mexican border town of Juarez, the front line in the war on drugs. And this, a crime scene I just had to see for myself.

(on camera): There's so much violence that occurs here in Juarez that the world just does not hear about. And now, disconcerting to see this fresh paint here on these walls as an old woman makes her home in this building, because just two months ago, this literally was a corridor of blood.

This building had been a drug rehabilitation center. And one of the major cartels suspected that its rivals were recruiting foot soldiers from among the patients. So, they came in this door and down this corridor, moving from room to room to room, executing everyone they found.

While they're now trying to build a home, this is where 17 people died in yet another day of Juarez violence.

(voice-over): Within two days of this attack, the death toll rose even higher, when two survivors died in hospital.

And there is no discrimination to the slaughter. Under these clothes lies a 7-year-old American boy. His father, the target, but the hit men chose not to let the child live.

On this day, we're in Juarez to see the horrors for ourselves. It's just before dusk as I approach a fresh crime scene.

(on camera): In Juarez, 1,600 people died from drug-related violence last year. This year, the total's already well over 2,000. And today's total is already at 12.

The man in that car was hit by cartel gunmen riddled with eight bullets. His passenger tried to flee but only made it that far.

(voice-over): This was yet another afternoon of killing in Juarez, with a night of murder yet to follow.

(on camera): It's only 9:00. We're now going and joining this police patrol. Since the killings this afternoon that we saw, there's already been another homicide, bringing today's total to 13.

(voice-over): Every night, joint patrols like this one between local and federal police and Mexican soldiers crisscross the city, trying desperately to stem the flow of blood.

(on camera): Things are so bad that earlier in the year, the Mexican president had to call in the military to help protect the city. For a short time, there was a lull in the violence, but it quickly returned. Now, it's worse than it's ever been before.

(voice-over): By now, it's close to 10:00 p.m., and the reports of violence are streaming in over the police radio.

(on camera): The patrol has just received another call on the radio. There's some kind of incident. But those lights there, that's America, the U.S. border. This reminds you just how close this war on drugs is being fought to American soil.

(voice-over): But before the night is over, there is even more carnage to come -- all this in our one afternoon and evening visit to this deadly city.

(on camera): This time it's almost too much to bear. It's just after 11:00, and where you see those policemen gathered at that door, there's just been four more slayings. This time, all women. The early reports are that a gunman walked in that door and executed all of them, one of them a 12-year-old girl, another 14.

And then a gut-wrenching irony, all of this done with the American border crossing just here, 18 yards away. There can be no more pertinent reminder of the Mexican blood that's being spilled in this war for the right to supply America's demand for illicit drugs.

Michael Ware, CNN, Juarez, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: With the New Year comes a new term for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He has just started his third term. In his inauguration last hour, he called it a special opportunity. And to earn it Bloomberg got a term-limits law changed, and he spent $102 million on his last campaign.

Rush Limbaugh ushered in 2010 in a Hawaii hospital. Meanwhile, the radio host is resting comfortably, doctors are saying, after a bunch of tests to figure out Wednesday's chest pains. Limbaugh was due to be back on the air Monday. And so far, no update on his schedule.

And still no deal between FOX and Time Warner Cable. If they can't sort out their money issues ASAP, many of you could be blacked out of college bowl action, the NFL last regular season games, and even worse, "The Simpsons."

The ball, it has dropped. The champagne bottle, it is empty, and the party is over. But one New Year's tradition is just getting under way for about 100 million U.S. citizens, making those resolutions. Most people want to lose weight or lose debt. But sticking to the plan, always as tough, isn't it?

So, senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is helping you follow through in 2010.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Richard, there's a reason most people don't keep their new year's resolutions, and it's because they don't think of the strategy, they don't think about how they're going to keep it. So, let's talk about the best ways to keep your resolutions in 2010.

First of all, you need to set small, specific goals. In other words, don't just say I'm going to lose weight. Think about how much weight you want to lose, and make it a reasonable amount. Make it something you can actually achieve.

Also, write it down. This is so important. When you write it down, it makes it something that's more concrete, something that you should actually achieve.

Also, spread the word. Tell your family and friends, "Hey, this year, I've resolved to lose 10 pounds." And you know what? You might find that people help you. For example, you might find that your neighbor says, "Wow, I resolved to lose weight as well, I'm going to take a walk with you every evening."

Now, you'll notice that we said write it down, and, Richard, I want to give you an example of what we mean by that. Take a look at this. Let's say your New Year's resolution is to lose 10 pounds by March 1st. Write that down and then write down the steps you're going to take to keep that resolution.

So, for example, no eating out on weeknights. That might be one of your strategies. Pack a lunch for work so you don't run out and get fast food. Walk the dog four times a week, and then to generally stay healthy, I'm going to eat only whole grain bread and I'm going to drink a glass of water before every meal.

Sign that resolution, and post it on your refrigerator or someplace where you'll see it every day, and you're reminded of this contract that you've made with yourself. And hopefully with all of these things, you'll be one of the few to keep your New Year's resolution in 2010 -- Richard.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: And good luck to all who do that.

A California teen answers the call of duty, but before he serves his country, he has to say his good-byes. Our Jason Carroll brings us the first chapter of one soldier's story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: What does it take to be all that you can be? Well, one California teen is finding out after he enlisted in the Army, and we're following Will McClain now as he transforms from a civilian to a soldier. Step number one: saying good-bye to his old life.

Here's Jason Carroll.

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WILL MCLAIN, U.S. ARMY RECRUIT: ... doing for my last party.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Will McClain, 18 years old, and a week away from taking the oath to enlist in the Army.

MCLAIN: More people here.

CARROLL: We gave him a video camera to show us how he was passing the time. There were lots of parties.

MCLAIN: It's always funny even if I'm partying with my friends like that, they kind of throw those Army jokes in.

CARROLL (on camera): How have your friends taken the news so far?

MCLAIN: They think I'm doing a good thing, like they think it's better than just rotting away in Rosamond, you know?

CARROLL (voice-over): Rosamond, California, Will's hometown. It's in the western Mojave desert, a large stretch of land with a small population, about 14,000 -- a place where dirt bike riding is surpassed only by motorcycle racing in popularity. A place Will McLain can't wait to leave.

MCLAIN: I'm kind of glad to be getting out of this little town, you know, because it just gets old. But there are a lot of things you will miss here.

CARROLL: We met up with will the last day before he left for the Army, a day his 12-year-old brother didn't want to leave his side.

MCLAIN: I think it kind of hits him more, like, that I'm leaving, like this last week, I think it's really hit him and my family.

CARROLL: Like a lot of high school football players, McLain had dreams of pursuing a careers in the pros.

MCLAIN: All I could think I'm going to go pro, no matter what, you know? And then pretty much, I guess, junior I realized there were a lot bigger fishes in the sea.

CARROLL (on camera): Yes.

(voice-over): McLain says, early this year, he began to really think about the advice from his uncle.

MCLAIN: I know my uncle always said, you know, you need to have a backup plan, you need to have a backup plan. And that's why I figured the military would be the best bet.

CARROLL: Will had grown up with guns and always liked the idea of joining the military. So, he tried to convince his parents to allow him to enlist before his 18th birthday in May.

MCLAIN: They didn't want to sign the papers and me to come back a year later and be like, "I hate you, you signed the papers." So, this way, they made me wait until I was 18 so that, you know, the blame is fully on me. So, the way my worded it, she doesn't want to be responsible for sending me to Afghanistan.

CARROLL: And now with time running out at home, reality is setting in.

MCLAIN: I'd say about a week ago, it truly hit me. That's when I forgot how to sleep and stuff. I just pretty much lay there and thinking like, oh, man, you know, I'm leaving in a week, I'm leaving in three days, I'm leaving in a day.

CARROLL: For Will's parents, Bill, a construction worker and his wife Lorrie, Will's future is now taking shape.

BILL MCLAIN, FATHER: We're worried that he will come home in one piece and he might be 5,000 miles away, but he knows there's people that care about him.

CARROLL: The next morning, came the good-byes...

MCLAIN: It's all right.

CARROLL: And one last word of advice.

B. MCLAIN: Head down, brain on. OK?

MCLAIN: Good enough.

B. MCLAIN: She wasn't looking forward to this moment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: Well, his good-byes are behind him. Next up, Army processing when Mr. Will McLain becomes Private McLain. Jason Carroll brings us the next chapter in this "Soldier's Story" that comes up in about 30 minutes. Stick around for that.

Spending time with family over the holidays? It can be nice, depending on your family, of course. Wait until you hear, though, what one guy did to get out of New Year's at home.

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LUI: No hijackings ever and a big airline that's considered the safest in the world. Well, where could a super secure airport like this be? Some might say right smack in the Middle East. We'll take you there and show you how they do it.

And a family's secret that's out -- thanks in no small part to a Google search.

All right. A couple of armed robbers clearly did not do their research here and it cost them dearly. So, you see, these guys, what they did is they busted into a Chicago business this week. They restrained the employees with duct tape and then tried to make off with an ATM.

Problem here, though: those suckers weigh at least about 250 pounds and the bandits -- they couldn't even budge it. Nice try, guys. Geniuses maybe not, more bench presses and more leg lifts.

Some of you might think a Sicilian man is a genius right about now. And what he did is he went into a police station on Thursday, and asked to be locked up, so that he would not have to spend New Year's with his wife and his family. Now, they were all like -- oh, mama mia, but you haven't committed any crime yet. So, he goes to the store next door, he steals some candy, gets some gum as well, and he stays there until the cops come over, because he didn't want to spend time with his wife and his family.

All right, now to Nigeria -- a lot of outrage over the attempted terror attack on a U.S. jetliner on Christmas Day. What is the reaction in the suspect's hometown? We've got that "Back Story."

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LUI: One week after the attempted bombing of the U.S. airliner that was landing in Detroit and we're still learning more about the suspect's travel connections and associations. A U.S. counterterrorism official is telling CNN that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab appears to have had direct contact with radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

Now, if that name sounds familiar to you, it came up after the November rampage at Fort Hood, Texas. That cleric had been in an e- mail contact with the U.S. Army psychiatrist who allegedly killed 13 people. Al-Awlaki was born in the United States and apparently moved to Yemen five or six years ago where he preaches jihad on the Web. That's the latest on that.

And then to Nigeria, where a proud nation is certainly in Africa it is, but now, shock, outrage and embarrassment over the attempted terror attack on a U.S. jetliner on Christmas Day.

In this week's "Back Story," we take a trip to the suspect's hometown. Here's CNN's Christian Purefoy with that.

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CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, "Back Story."

We're in the hometown of suspected bomber, Farouk Abdulmutallab in Kaduna, northern Nigeria. And behind us is the house where he grew up until about 12 years old when he went for education outside of the country.

As you can see, it's not a small house. He does not come from a poor background. He's the son of a wealthy Nigerian banker.

Now, our position is just further up the road, and probably quite a surprise to you all, we really are -- you can probably just see us down on the end of the road from where we've been doing our lives -- we are really the only international journalists in Kaduna at the minute.

And we've also spoken -- further down the road it's all just a few blocks away around here -- to his primary school teacher, who even had his school reports. Here's what he had to say.

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KERCHIRI SETH, ESSENSE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL: School records, comments about his character and his grades.

PUREFOY: What did they say? Did he do well as a student?

SETH: Yes, he did. He did. There's nowhere in his record from grade one to six that any teacher commented that he was a bad student. Spelling, he's nightly dressed, quiet and well behaved, that is primary two.

PUREFOY: How old would he have been then?

SETH: Seven.

PUREFOY: And did he -- I mean, obviously a very young age, but was there any change in the way he behaved in his views about religion?

SETH: There was nothing like that. There was nothing at all like that. He was just like any other student in the class, in the school.

PUREFOY: You couldn't have told and he was there at your school and you were teaching him, that he would have gone and done what he's...

SETH: At all, at all, at all. PUREFOY: And how do you feel that this has happened?

SETH: Shocking and highly disturbing. It's very disturbing to find a young man of his ability to get himself involved in that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PUREFOY: Now, the one thing we weren't able to capture on camera was who lives in this community. Behind the rather large gate, just a few blocks away from Farouk's house, well, it's the big powerbrokers of Nigeria. You've got ex-presidents, big businessmen and big politicians.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: ... Purefoy with that "Back Story."

For more behind-the-scenes reporting on stories making headlines, check out our Website CNN.com/backstory.